Away With The Summer Days
by dying.to.find.out
Summary: A little LilyJames ficlet...kinda AU, I guess. Lily and James meet in Ireland during the summer. It's full of fluffy goodness.


A/N: Hello, me hearties! This be my first little ficlet. If you like it, great! If you don't, you'll just have to pretend. Think you can handle that? Spiffy!

Disclaimer: Anybody who thinks I own Harry Potter needs to go to St. Mungo's for a reality check. I don't own the song either...(which, by the way, is _Away With The Summer Days_ by Youngstown).

So, without further ado, here it is! (lyrics in italics)

* * *

_I met her on a sunny Sunday afternoon_

_She hit me with a smile warmer than the days of June_

_By then I knew she had to be_

_In some way a part of me_

_She was as beautiful as a flower in bloom_

_Flower in bloom_

James was walking down the street in Limerick, Ireland. He was staying with his grandparents, who had insisted he take a walk.

As he passed one driveway on the quiet street, he heard humming coming from the stone wall next to him. A girl's voice, which would mostly hum but every now and then would sing a few words. James looked up- and saw a gorgeous redhead sitting on the wall above him, weaving a daisy chain.

"Hello," said James.

The girl jumped.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you-" James apologized.

"No, that's okay," said the girl with a smile that lit up her whole face. "I was off in la-la land – again. Grammy says I have to stop doing that…but it's too easy to slip away."

"My name's James," said James.

"Nice to meet you, James," said the girl, extending her hand. "I'm Lily."

"Would you like to go for a walk?" James asked, shaking her hand.

"I'd love to!" exclaimed Lily. "Just let me go tell Grammy and Gramps, okay? I'll be right back." She disappeared down a gravel path surrounded by flowers into a small cottage far away.

James stood for a few minutes, just wondering if Lily was real. She was so beautiful- and he decided he wanted to get to know her better.

Lily came back, smiling. "Grammy says to be back in an hour at the latest."

"Sure," said James. They started walking. "Do you live here?" James asked her.

"No, I'm from England. Yorkshire, actually."

"But your accent doesn't say Yorkshire."

"It never has. I lived in London for a long while, then in Surrey. And every summer I come out here to visit my grandparents. And then my accent gets kind of mixed up. It's as though it can't make up its mind whether it wants to be English or Irish," said Lily.

By the time they came back to Lily's grandparents' cottage, James had come to two conclusions.

Conclusion one: He was completely infatuated with Lily.

"I had fun today," said Lily.

"Me too," James answered, smiling at her. She smiled back.

"We should do this again," Lily suggested.

"Sure. How about tomorrow, same time, same place?"

"Sounds good to me," said Lily. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."

"What for?"

"For getting me out of here. Grammy is driving me crazy. She keeps telling me I'm too thin, and my parents must be starving me, and then she goes and tells me I need more exercise. She's going to have me in an insane asylum by the end of the summer."

James laughed. "You? In an insane asylum? I highly doubt it."

"We'll see, won't we?" And with that she waved and walked slowly away down the path.

Conclusion two: He definitely wouldn't mind making out with Lily.

* * *

The next day James reappeared at the stone wall about five minutes earlier than he had the day before. His dreams the night before had been full of Lily, so he was very rested and quite content.

He leaned against the wall to wait for her, and began quietly humming the song she had hummed when he first saw her.

Unseen by James, Lily crept to the top of the wall and saw him standing there, humming her favourite song. She grinned and began humming along.

This time it was James who jumped at the sound. Lily giggled and hopped down off the wall, landing securely next to him. He gaped at her.

"A- Are you sure you should be doing that?" he spluttered. "That wall's got to be six feet high, you could hurt yourself!'

"Nonsense," said Lily, taking his hand. "I've been doing it since I was a child."

Mouth still wide open, James followed her down the street.

* * *

And so it was that every day at half past one, rain or shine, James would show up at Lily's garden wall and hum what soon became "their song". They would set off hand in hand, and talk the whole time. They never seemed to run out of things to say._The heat of the sunshine_

_Could not compare_

_To the heat of the passion_

_And times we shared_

James slowly let his affection for Lily become known, and she soon realized, in a sudden burst of clarity, that she felt the same way about him. They became somewhat more than friends.

They did everything together. Not a day went by that the neighbours didn't see Lily and James walking down the street together, or picnicking in the fields, or sitting on Lily's garden wall. You almost couldn't find Lily without James, and vice versa.

* * *

One day, towards the end of the summer, James came to Lily's stone wall and began humming their song. Half past came and went, and James began to get worried. She'd never been late before, not once. At two o'clock, he decided he had waited long enough and walked up the pathway to the small cottage.

He paused in front of the door, took a deep breath, and knocked. No answer. He tried again, more persistently. Still no sounds from within. He tried the knob, it turned easily. Slowly he entered the house, calling.

"Lily! Lily, are you here?"

The house was in perfect order, not a speck of dust on the furniture, the floors neatly swept. The beds were made, the table was set, everything looked perfect. James entered Lily's room, and saw not the room he was used to, but a bare room, with only the furniture and a few photos.

On Lily's bed lay a photo of the two of them sitting on the garden wall, grinning at each other. It was a Muggle photo, but that didn't surprise James. He hadn't told Lily he was a wizard, and as far as he knew, she hadn't a clue.

_Hmm,_ he thought. _I don't remember this photo being taken…_

He turned over the frame, and saw the corner of a small piece of white paper sticking out. He tugged at it, and slowly it came free. _James,_ he read silently. _Sorry, something's come up, my parents have been in an accident, I had to go back to London right away, I'm really sorry, I wanted to tell you but there was no time, see you next summer, love Lily._ The writing was sloppy, rushed, the paper dotted with tears.

James sat down on Lily's perfect bed, staring at the picture. A stray tear fell from his eye. _She didn't tell me where I can find her, _he thought dejectedly.

_And then out of the blue_

_The cold winds came_

_She went away, and I'll never be the same,_

_She went away with the summer days._

* * *

FLASHBACK_We were inseparable, we would spend_

_Every day together, night after the day would end_

Lily and James were walking down the street, hand in hand as usual. In his free hand James carried a small picnic basket. It was early evening, just before twilight.

They reached their favourite field, a grassy one just behind James' grandparents' house. Lily broke loose from his hand and ran over to a slight knoll rising up out of the flat landscape. She twirled around, her hair flying in the slight breeze.

"Right here," she said. "This spot is perfect."

James grinned, and came up next to her. "Whatever you say," he replied. "Your wish is my command."

Lily smiled. "Silly James."

"I'm serious," James protested. "You want our picnic here, we'll have it here. You want it in that tree," he pointed to the tree standing a few feet away from them, "I'll start climbling."

In response, Lily just smiled again and spread the red-and-white checkered tablecloth out on the ground. They sat down and ate sandwiches as the sun slowly sank below the horizon.

_The time had come for the sun to leave_

_That's the way things had to be_

"It's getting late," said James quietly as they sat on their tablecloth, his arm around her shoulder, and her head nestled into the crook of his neck. "We should head back."

Lily murmured her assent and they packed up the remains of their picnic, walking slowly through the field, neither of them wanting the moment to end.

END FLASHBACK

* * *

James sat in Lily's room until well after dark, remembering all the good times._But when the sun was gone_

_I looked around and so was she_

He came back to reality and remembered that Lily wasn't there anymore, she had left. A fresh wave of tears threatened to spill over his eyelids, but he brushed them away angrily. Standing up abruptly, he set the photo back on Lily's dresser and walked towards the door. He stood in the doorway a moment, staring at the empty room, then quickly walked back in, grabbed the photo, and left without glancing back.

_

* * *

Now the summertime is through_

_I can't stop thinking of you_

James sat on the train to Hogwarts, staring at the one lonely photograph that reminded him of that beautiful summer spent with the girl of his dreams. He had thought about her every day since she had left.

_I can't seem to get you off my mind_

_All I know is I can't wait until next summertime_

Four words from Lily's letter reverberated inside his head. _See you next summer._ He had to go back next summer. Even if for some reason, she didn't show, he would be there, standing under her garden wall, humming their song.

A voice broke through James' tumbled thoughts.

"Hey, Prongs, what're you looking at?"

James looked up into the eyes of his best friend, Sirius Black. He shrugged. "Just a photograph."

"Can I see it?" inquired another of his best friends, Remus Lupin. James obligingly passed him the photo.

Remus looked at the photo for a few seconds, then looked up at James. "Is she a friend of yours?" he asked.

"Yeah, I met her over the summer," said James. "And I really miss her," he said under his breath.

"You didn't meet her over the summer, James," said Remus. "You've known her for years: That's Lily Evans!"

_Lily Evans._ Of course. Why hadn't James put the pieces together? _Lily Evans._ But wait, Lily Evans hated him.

He shook his head. "No, it couldn't have been Lily Evans, she hates me, remember?"

A flash of red hair caught his eye as someone walked past the compartment.

James was out of his seat and in the corridor in a heartbeat. "Lily!" he cried.

…And the rest is history.

Unless, of course, I get some reviews, in which case, I'll continue the story.

* * *

A/N: So, what'd you think? You likey? Not so likey? Whatever your opinion, I'd love to hear it! There is a convenient little bluey-purple button in the bottom left corner of the screen, you know...it's calling your name...you should click on it. Really. I don't mind negative reviews, as long as they're constructive:) 


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